Market: LeBroom headed to Knicks

[phxspurfan]

According to Bloomberg TV analysts who spotted a >6% jump in Madison Square Garden investments...

[Blackjack]

Ya mean, LeBloomberg?


Okay, I realize how terrible that was . . . :shootme

[phxspurfan]

http://www.cnbc.com/id/38131493

Market Bets LeBron Will Be A Knick?
Published: Wednesday, 7 Jul 2010 | 2:57 PM ET Text Size By: Darren Rovell
CNBC Sports Business Reporter
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LeBron James
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As the media world speculates on where LeBron James will land, the market, at least, seems to be leaning towards the New York Knicks.

As of 2:45 p.m., shares of Madison Square Garden Inc., which includes the Knicks and the MSG Network, were up 1.21 percent to $20.51, but the bigger story was in the options pits.

There’s been twice as many contracts sold to people betting that MSG stock will rise to $22.50 by the end of the month as compared to people betting it will fall to $20 by July’s end. (Follow MSG here)

“There’s absolutely no justification for this activity other than the LeBron James play,” said Jon Najarian, co-founder of Trade Monster and a CNBC contributor. “People will most likely continue to speculate into tomorrow’s announcement.”

The story is not only seen in the ratio of bulls to bears, it’s also seen in the volatility of the call and put contracts. On an average day, about 600 calls and puts are traded on MSG [MSG 21.56 1.29 (+6.36%) ]. More than 10,000 calls and puts have been traded today.

Volatility is also brisk on shares of the stock itself. MSG stock typically trades about 200,000 shares a day. By 2:45 p.m. ET, almost 582,000 shares had been traded.

While it’s hard to say exactly how much James will make for the franchise if he signs with the team, CNBC calculated last week that the Knicks could potentially gross $35.3 million off the James investment in Year one, while only having to pay him $16.5 million.

[Spurminator]

Eh, if the Cavs and Heat were publicly traded, their stocks would have done the same thing. Just people making bets.

[phxspurfan]

Eh, if the Cavs and Heat were publicly traded, their stocks would have done the same thing. Just people making bets.

That's probably right...


but...


RDYpqdHO0LI

[DesignatedT]

hmmm

[Brazil]

another misleading title

[wut]

stocks rise and fall all the time. :)

But seriously, it makes financial sense...but not basketball sense.

[phxspurfan]

I don't know basketball CBA's or have "sources" like y'all, but I do know investing more than the average person since I do it for a living. And when you see pops with heavy volume like this, it usually isn't just blind speculation. It usually indicates an insider to the deal (for which there would be many) decided to get greedy and buy a whole bunch of stock before the deal to profit from the post-announcement pop.

It happens all the time with insiders, just look at cnbc for any particular stock and click on the insider section. Sometimes you'll see the company's executive officers purchasing massive quantities of shares, and historically that leads to a run in the stock as the general public sees it as confirmation of future earnings beats. Conversely as part of researching a stock, if I saw massive insider selling that would be a red flag that those who know more about the business are not confident about future stock performance.

The market discounts future events pretty well, but usually goes overboard by a bit due to emotion, so it's just something interesting to note and could be an indicator of an insider investing on what they know, if not explicitly leaking it to the media.

[Dex]

The market in general was on the rise today. DJI went up 2.82%, while others like AAPL, AMZN, GOOG, and even BP went up from 3-5%. This could be nothing more than a fluctuation of that trend.

But I like how every analyst in the world, sports-related or not, is trying to be the first journalist on the beat.

[NRHector]

can this thread be in the NBA forum with the other 100 threads about lebron?

[cantthinkofanything]

I don't know basketball CBA's or have "sources" like y'all, but I do know investing more than the average person since I do it for a living. And when you see pops with heavy volume like this, it usually isn't just blind speculation. It usually indicates an insider to the deal (for which there would be many) decided to get greedy and buy a whole bunch of stock before the deal to profit from the post-announcement pop.

It happens all the time with insiders, just look at cnbc for any particular stock and click on the insider section. Sometimes you'll see the company's executive officers purchasing massive quantities of shares, and historically that leads to a run in the stock as the general public sees it as confirmation of future earnings beats. Conversely as part of researching a stock, if I saw massive insider selling that would be a red flag that those who know more about the business are not confident about future stock performance.

The market discounts future events pretty well, but usually goes overboard by a bit due to emotion, so it's just something interesting to note and could be an indicator of an insider investing on what they know, if not explicitly leaking it to the media.

[cantthinkofanything]

I don't know basketball CBA's or have "sources" like y'all, but I do know investing more than the average person since I do it for a living. And when you see pops with heavy volume like this, it usually isn't just blind speculation. It usually indicates an insider to the deal (for which there would be many) decided to get greedy and buy a whole bunch of stock before the deal to profit from the post-announcement pop.

It happens all the time with insiders, just look at cnbc for any particular stock and click on the insider section. Sometimes you'll see the company's executive officers purchasing massive quantities of shares, and historically that leads to a run in the stock as the general public sees it as confirmation of future earnings beats. Conversely as part of researching a stock, if I saw massive insider selling that would be a red flag that those who know more about the business are not confident about future stock performance.

The market discounts future events pretty well, but usually goes overboard by a bit due to emotion, so it's just something interesting to note and could be an indicator of an insider investing on what they know, if not explicitly leaking it to the media.

Thanks for sharing. You're wrong though.

[TDMVPDPOY]

thats fkn bs if james decides to buy options into the company, then signs a contract with the knicks? wouldnt that be considered insider trading since he had information b4 hand what he was going to do anyway

[Obstructed_View]

thats fkn bs if james decides to buy options into the company, then signs a contract with the knicks? wouldnt that be considered insider trading since he had information b4 hand what he was going to do anyway

Anybody with prior knowledge who does that is in violation of SEC rules. That said, any day trader who follows sports and has half a brain has the idea to do this, which is probably responsible for the bump.

[cantthinkofanything]

Anybody with prior knowledge who does that is in violation of SEC rules. That said, any day trader who follows sports and has half a brain has the idea to do this, which is probably responsible for the bump.

First the Hummer and now this. LOL at the thought of James buying options with his big contract. But I guess if Martha Stewert tried to save a few bucks....

[Obstructed_View]

I'm actually hoping James spent money on this. The Knicks received a warning about this very thing the other day, and I'd love to see James sign a contract with the Knicks and immediately be taken into custody by the feds.

[ElNono]

I'm actually hoping James spent money on this. The Knicks received a warning about this very thing the other day, and I'd love to see James sign a contract with the Knicks and immediately be taken into custody by the feds.

Not surprised they got a warning. James Dolan is a sneaky douche...

[Blackjack]

Not surprised they got a warning. James Dolan is a sneaky douche...

Those are the worst! :downspin:

[tdunk21]

could someone change the thread title....

[awktalk]

But Jared Dudley says so! (http://www.tmz.com/2010/07/07/tmz-live-jared-dudley-lebron-james-nba-new-york-knicks/)

Sorry Cleveland ... and Chicago ... and New Jersey ... LeBron James is headed for the New York Knicks ... at least according to Phoenix Suns superstar (and TMZ special reporter) Jared Dudley.

Jared just phoned into TMZ Live ... and revealed that his top secret NBA sources have information directly from the Knicks ... that LeBron has informed team officials that he will be joining the team.

Check out the audio and listen to the whole thing. LeBron is expected to make his "official" announcement tomorrow evening.

[temujin]

Great move, David Stern.

[ElNono]

I tell you what, the Knicks make a lot of sense for Lebron. It's a huge market and he loves the exposure more than he loves basketball. He wouldn't find a better place for that stuff than NY.

[ElNono]

State of LeBron: Live at 9, from his ego (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=aw-lebrondecision070710)
http://l.yimg.com/a/i/us/sp/ed/experts/wojnarowski.png By Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo Sports

The Championship of Me comes crashing into a primetime cable infomercial that LeBron James(notes) and his cronies have been working to make happen for months, a slow, cynical churning of manufactured drama that sports has never witnessed. As historic monuments go, this is the Rushmore of basketball hubris and narcissism. The vacuous star for our vacuous times. All about ‘Bron and all about nothing.

James is throwing a few foosball tables at Boys & Girls Clubs, an empty gesture out of the empty superstar. He’s turned free agency into the title of our times, a preening pageant of fawning, begging and pleading. Hard-working people are dragged into municipalities and told to hold signs, chant scripted slogans and beg a diva who doesn’t care about them to accept a $100 million contract.

Privately, Dwyane Wade(notes) and Chris Bosh(notes) weren’t pleased on Wednesday morning with the belief that James’ camp was responsible for leaking their plans to a television partner, but then again it makes perfect sense: This isn’t about Wade and Bosh choosing the Heat. It’s about LeBron getting the stage to himself on Thursday night.

One front-office executive whose team made a presentation to LeBron James told Yahoo! Sports that he believes James is choosing between Miami and Cleveland. And yet, if James wants to deliver the biggest kick in the gut to his hometown, he’ll pick the flat-lined New York Knicks. Whatever the decision, he’s made clear that the teasing and tormenting of the loser isn’t his concern.

Team LeBron is having the time of its life, but has no idea the repercussions of what it’s done here. All that comes to James now is the biggest burden to win a championship that sports has ever seen. They aren’t making James a bigger star with this big-top, but a bigger target. All those teams that marched into the presentations and listened to some of the foolish and naive questions asked of them believed these kids had no idea what they were doing, or what they had gotten themselves into. They’re all feeling more validated every day. From beginning to end, this process has been a farce.

On James’ new website, under the headline dubbing this TV debacle “The Decision,” there come these words: “Maverick Carter, CEO of LRMR Marketing said…” This explains everything. Carter’s marketing company isn’t doing so well trying to get its one client Jonny Flynn(notes) a used-car dealership endorsement in the Twin Cities, and now Carter’s going to try to justify all that plush office space, staff attorneys, private planes and resort hotels by translating the Championship of Me into the making of his reputation.

Carter’s pushed one agent – Aaron Goodwin – and one advisor – William Wesley – aside because he wanted to be the voice in James’ ear and the one getting credit on the masthead. So far, Carter’s been a superstar at spending James’ money on LRMR, but now he’s getting the company name out there and turning LeBron into Mr. July after LeBron didn’t have the stomach to be Mr. June.

Team LeBron had discussed a documentary on the free-agent process, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported, but the narrative changed after James’ Game 5 meltdown in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Carter says there was never a plan for a free-agent tour, but this is what he means: There was never a plan for James to get held accountable, to have his motivations and priorities called into doubt. There was never a plan for the blame to shift from Danny Ferry, Mike Brown and his Cavaliers teammates. There was never a plan that real-world rules applied to the self-proclaimed King.

They scrapped the tour, the documentary and set sights on hijacking the network for an unprecedented special they believe will elevate James’ brand. Only, James has never looked smaller, never more insecure and unsure of who he is and what he wants to be. He won’t look so much like Kobe Bryant(notes) and David Beckham, but rather a three-star linebacker from Shaker Heights picking Bowling Green over Kent and Ohio U. on local access television.

Team LeBron has known all along it was going to do this, and the cushy, protective relationship with that television network culminates with a basketball player commandeering his own coverage on his own terms. Now James and his buddies spoon out misdirection plays on his possible destination – feeding everyone for days and weeks that the Knicks were dead, only to say now, “Well…who knows?” – to build back drama for the infomercial.

This is some plan they’ve hatched and some game they’re playing with those Cleveland fans who’ve been so relentlessly loyal to James. First, he marched the biggest suitors in the sport to come court him in downtown Cleveland with those pointless presentations. He wanted those people out there creating a visual public push-and-pull for him, and because James needed to be told something that probably isn’t completely true anymore: Cleveland loves him.

Well, Cleveland craves him. Love is a strong word, and it ought to be unconditional, but loving a sports hero is the most conditional kind of love there is. Only, it was different with Cleveland. He’s one of them, but you still have to wonder: Are they one of him?

James never shared that town’s angst with the Browns and Indians. He wanted winners in his life, and rooted for the Dallas Cowboys and New York Yankees. He doesn’t feel the pain of a city’s broken heart. Shaquille O’Neal(notes) leaving the Orlando Magic for the Los Angeles Lakers 14 years ago was a hard hit, but LeBron bailing on Cleveland is far more devastating on a different level.

Everyone ridicules Cleveland, makes it a butt of jokes, but LeBron James has the chance to change all of that. And even then, it has to crush Cleveland’s sporting psyche that James could still walk out. If one of our own won’t stay, what does that say to the rest of the country?

That’s the hardest part here, and that makes the possibility that James would go on national television – with those split-screen shots of stunned fans in Akron and Cleveland – and completely crush those people so impossible to believe. He couldn’t be that cold, that callous, that cunning? Or perhaps, maybe this is all a rollout – the website, the Twitter page and the infomercial – to introduce a new LeBron, a new city, to the world.

Whatever happens, James and the television network will hide behind some money going to the Boys & Girls Clubs. But this isn’t about kids and sports, and it sure isn’t about the credibility that comes with winning championships. Something’s changed here, and LeBron James has gone a long way to devaluing winning and losing in the NBA. David Stern has long pushed the individual over team, marketed showy over substance, and LeBron James represents the manifestation of it all.

Greatest talent to ever walk into this league, the self-proclaimed King, and now everyone gets a front-row, primetime seat for how it means to live without self-awareness, without restraint. The vacuous star for our vacuous times, live on Thursday night and fitting himself for a ring as the undisputed Championship of Me. All about ‘Bron and all about nothing.

[scottspurs]

But Jared Dudley says so! (http://www.tmz.com/2010/07/07/tmz-live-jared-dudley-lebron-james-nba-new-york-knicks/)

Sorry Cleveland ... and Chicago ... and New Jersey ... LeBron James is headed for the New York Knicks ... at least according to Phoenix Suns superstar (and TMZ special reporter) Jared Dudley.

Jared just phoned into TMZ Live ... and revealed that his top secret NBA sources have information directly from the Knicks ... that LeBron has informed team officials that he will be joining the team.

Check out the audio and listen to the whole thing. LeBron is expected to make his "official" announcement tomorrow evening.

Whose his source Amare? Screw David Stern for promising him a ring if this happens.

[Blackjack]

Yeah, I posted that in the free-agency thread. Possibly Wojo's best ever. :lol

[ElNono]

Yeah, I posted that in the free-agency thread. Possibly Wojo's best ever. :lol

Oops.. yeah, very good column.

[bigzak25]

I hope he stays in Cleveland. It's his home and where his legacy should be. Good FO in place and a new coach on the way. They just gotta stop trying to hit the home run with guys like Shaq and steadily build up the franchise.

[PDXSpursFan]

Stern wants LBJ to the Knicks. Can you imagine NBA Opener Heat @ Knicks and a re-match on Christmas day?

[lotr1trekkie]

I wonder if little prince James has moved his family out of town. I guess not . He probably has 10 from Blackwater manning the turretts.